They’re a police force. The FBI enforce laws, not write them. This is a potentially interesting story though, but not because of some kind of revolving door between the pencil-pushing swamp creatures and the fog breathing code monkeys.
Technically correct but in practice the FBI does actually write and repeal laws in 2 incredibly important ways that I constantly see people forget about.
First every law enforcement body in this country has to prioritize which laws it wants to enforce, to many laws on the books to do otherwise. By prioritizing some crimes over others, they change the nature of the law itself, at least insofar as it impacts the lives of regular people. A law is not a really a law if its not enforced (just like a right is not really a right if it does not protect you in practice).
Second, and even more directly, the FBI in particular has a massive political influence in congress over which bills are written and which bills die and which bills get passed. Its difficult to overstate how powerful the law enforcement lobby is in this country, and a big part of that big tent is the FBI.
You’re meshing the appointed leadership with the field agents, but rank and file FBI and most of their bosses are law enforcement whose assembly line is Justice, not policy, and they’re the guys with the guns, not the creatures with the pencils.
That is not to say that appointees have no influence; they can have a lasting effect through hiring practices and other personnel actions, effects that may outlast administrations. Appointees certainly do not learn of all activities of their underlings, if only because they only have so many hours in the day to read. What they do get to read is filtered for them by those same underlings.
If the leadership is weak, uninterested or unengaged, then yes, middle management can take their stab at steering the ship (and compete with each other to do it). On the other hand, they can also just be fired if they get uppity, and if leadership has someone stepping on their toes or undermining them, well rank has it’s privileges and anyone can be replaced. Make the distinction between a working stiff with law enforcement power and a pencil pushing swamp creature with political power.
The appointees have literally no way to know how well their orders are being followed, except as by reported by those who they hope are following them.
That's only a part of it. The FBI as an institution pushes for and against legislation, and when they push they can shove. They play a meaningful role in the actual drafting of the law.
This is not like an inherently evil thing, usually their political agenda, such as it is, it to strengthen laws that make it easier for them to do their work, and push back against laws which restrain their power. They work to protect the interests of their institution, which is understandable, but that necessarily enters into the policy realm.
> You’re meshing the appointed leadership with the field agents, but rank and file FBI and most of their bosses are law enforcement whose assembly line is Justice, not policy, and they’re the guys with the guns, not the creatures with the pencils.
I'm not. When I say "the FBI", I speak of the institution as a whole. Everyone from the rank and file to the bosses.